I wonder how many of the attendees actually go on to attend the symphony proper. Like, does going to this tell you how to dress (however you want, for reals), when to clap, how to order drinks (?), etc.?

And I don't know, the site itself makes me think, "way too young and hip for me," so it seems to be communicating everything they intend to communicate. Perhaps, aging neb, as you approach your exit from what, in my day, we called "the coveted 18-34 demographic," what you're feeling is less disdain than despair.

(I want to like it—and I do like, say, The Lab, and I liked BAM/PFA's concert series—but so much about it screams "how do you do, fellow kids?" to me. And it annoys me that they're all "a place for people who love music!" without actually saying what the fucking music is.)

"Villa-Lobos's musical background do little to prepare us for "The Little Train of the Caipira" from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 2. Despite the title, this music really represents the characterful Brazilian in all his glory. The rhythms are more Latin than Bachian. (It probably wouldn't have occurred to Bach to make use of a bamboo scraper as an instrument, either.) The music builds great visuals. The sounds will lead you to see in your mind's eye the little train as it slowly gathers speed, the clicking of its mechanisms as it chugs along, and the eventual slowing to a halt."

I can't even see an upcoming event, so you're ahead of me. Oh of course, it's under ABOUT. (This seems like the kind of thing I'd go to if someone offered me free tickets and then I'd mock the writing incessantly and probably lose friends.)

When you go to a Kanye West concert, or a Sleater Kinney concert or a Bob Dylan concert, they don't have a program with a set list of what songs will be performed. Why are classical music people such control-freaks? Why can't they handle uncertainty and surprise?

17: you know who's performing, though. Sometimes it does happen when you go to a performance of classical music that "the program will be announced from the stage"! But usually you know who the performer is.

17: We are talking about people who are going to what is, essentially, a concert by a very prestigious cover band*. So... maybe the appeal of that is a big part of the demographic?

*And most of the things you get at classical music concerts were popular at the time they first started being performed, so maybe even a Top 40 band. Although I guess it would be hard to tell specifically because they didn't have radio charts for most of the periods involved.

I actually don't know where you're getting the idea that this will just be anything of the 20th century (and you don't have to tell me that it was diverse. Like I don't know what 19 is in reference to.